What does God want me to do?

[0:00] 5,000 people were asked a question, what topic would you like to hear your pastor preach about?

[0:12] ! And the number one answer was Bible prophecy. And the number two answer was how to find God's will for my life. How to find God's will? The Bible urges us to know the will of God. It tells us in Ephesians 5,17 Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

[0:41] To know the will of God, to understand it. That should be our heart as a follower of our Lord, shouldn't it? To desire to understand the will of God. What's more, to want to do the will of God. To understand it and to do it.

[1:00] In Psalm 40 verse 8 it says, I delight to do thy will, O God. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.

[1:14] One of the greatest promises of the word of God we find in Proverbs chapter 3. It's a beautiful couple of verses here in particular in Proverbs 3 verses 5 through 6.

[1:26] We want to spend some time unpacking that a little today as to what these words tell us. These couple of much loved verses are really a great encouragement that we can know from our God today.

[1:42] How to live a life that pleases Him. And you might know these words, you might want to say it along with me as we read Proverbs 3 verses 5 through 6.

[1:53] Feel free to read along. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.

[2:08] These verses tell us about God's will, about guidance from God over a life, how we can know it. And the first thing we see is faith.

[2:20] Faith. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. So these words are actually a command from God.

[2:31] It's telling us trust in the Lord. It's a command from God that we should obey. Will we obey it or not? Who are you going to trust in?

[2:42] We can trust in many people, can't we? We can trust in ourselves. And we can be disappointed. Some people are very self-reliant, aren't they?

[2:53] Self-sufficient. And we can be like that. I know I can be like that, prone to rely upon myself. Trusting in our own wisdom and strength.

[3:04] It matters who you trust, doesn't it? Who. It's foolishness to trust in yourself. We see that in this verse here, Proverbs 28, verse 26.

[3:16] It says, He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. To trust in your own heart is a foolish thing.

[3:29] Our trust can be misplaced, can't it? I've trusted people who have stolen from me. I don't know whether you've trusted the car salesman sometimes.

[3:41] Yeah, it's a perfect car, but when you get... I know Julie likes to tell a time when I bought a car in Adelaide, and it was a bargain. $150.

[3:52] It was a while ago, mind you. I don't think you can buy a car for $150 these days. Probably might get a wrecker from the salvage yard. But...

[4:03] So I caught the bus down to Adelaide and bought this... It was a Ford Cortina wagon, I think it was. And I drove it home, and I got kind of halfway home.

[4:15] I got to about... I got around Jep's Cross. And then I had to call that RAA. And it had blown a head gasket. And so I got $15 for it when I cashed...

[4:27] I took it down to the salvage yard. I got $15. So that was an expensive lesson for me at the time. I trusted that car salesman, I really did. They looked like a nice sort of guy.

[4:38] And we can trust people and be bitterly disappointed, can't we? Yes. But God calls for our complete trust. And we can trust in the Lord. We can trust in the Lord with all of our heart.

[4:51] We can trust God with our life. We can place our trust there. And we won't be disappointed. Trust God with everything. Is there an area of your life that you're not trusted to Him?

[5:06] Well, you're not trusting God. What about your relationships? Your speech? Your livelihood? Are you ready to go anywhere? At any time?

[5:17] At any cost for Jesus? Trust in the Lord. The Bible talks over 900 times about the heart. And it tells us here, trust in the Lord with your heart.

[5:29] We see that in our verse, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. The Bible talks about the heart some 900 times, over 900 times. And of course, the Bible tells us some things about our heart.

[5:42] Of course, we know the Bible tells us how our heart is deceitful. The heart is deceitful. Jeremiah 17, verse 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

[5:57] Who can know it? The Bible says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. And the heart, in the Word of God, it talks about really the heart as being the centre of our being.

[6:10] It's the centre of our mind, of our will, of our emotions. And faith affects our heart. And our heart should trust in the Lord. Faith speaks about our relationship with our God.

[6:25] The Word of God tells how God opens the heart. He performs open heart surgery. As we see as when Lydia was saved. It reads in Acts 16, 14.

[6:38] And a certain woman named Lydia, she was a seller of purple, of selling these garments of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God. And Lydia, it says, heard us.

[6:51] His heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. God opened up Lydia's heart. And she heard the Word of God.

[7:02] And she was saved. She was baptised. I love how we read that Christ dwells in hearts too. Ephesians 3, verse 17.

[7:13] It reads, Paul says to the Ephesians, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. That you being rooted and grounded in love. It talks about Christ dwelling, Christ residing in our hearts by faith.

[7:29] The Word of God talks much about the heart, doesn't it? The seed, it tells about the hearts that are like a stony ground, hardened towards God. Or the heart that is tender and receptive towards God.

[7:44] I like to what our brother Peter was talking about when you talk to some people. Their hearts are hardened. Their hearts are not receptive. Or they've got some vain hope that they're hanging onto.

[7:55] Now, one of the couples that we talked to at the door yesterday, there was a man, 88 years old. And he wasn't very well. But we spoke to his wife.

[8:06] She was also 88. Celebrating their 67th wedding anniversary. God bless them. And we talked about faith. We talked about trusting Christ. We talked about salvation.

[8:17] And she said, oh look, we kind of have a religion, Church of England or whatever. And they were talking, she was talking about her husband.

[8:29] He's 88. And she says, well, he was a choir boy. So they're trusting that this man, 88 years old, he was a choir boy. So maybe that will count for something.

[8:41] What's he done since being a choir boy? I mean, honestly, what are you trusting in? Are you trusting in being a choir boy, the altar boy or whatever? You're trusting in something. You might have done some good work or this or that.

[8:54] Or are you trusting in the Lord? Is Christ dwelling in your heart? That's what counts, isn't it? That's what matters. No matter whether you've been a choir boy or whatnot, that's irrelevant. It's whether Christ is dwelling in your heart by faith.

[9:07] Our heart can be like stony ground, rock hard, and the seed, the word of God cannot penetrate.

[9:18] Or our heart can be sensitive and say, yes, I need Christ. I need the saviour. I need to be saved. And we believe with our heart. As the verse reads in Acts 8, 37, in the context of the eunuch and Philip giving him the gospel and the account of salvation.

[9:39] And then, here is water. What does hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

[9:54] Do you trust in the Lord with all your heart?

[10:09] Trust in the Lord with all your heart? Can you invite Jesus to join you in all your activities? Are you trying to please him in every part of your life? Of course, we know we slip and slide.

[10:21] We fail. I fail. But God is gracious. But are we striving? Is there that heart? That heart that's directed towards him? Are we holding back something from our heart?

[10:34] Not fully trusting him with our heart? The word of God urges us to place our entire trust. Our entire trust in him. To trust in Christ alone. Nothing else.

[10:46] Not Christ plus being a choir boy or whatever good works I might have done. Not fully trusting him. Trust in Christ. Christ alone. Entirely trusting him.

[10:57] He is faithful. He is faithful and he keeps his promises. Trust his promises. Without reservation. All my heart. All my heart I trust. Faith is our surrender. It's our reservation.

[11:09] And we're yielding ourselves to him. We're surrendering control. The more that we know him, the more that we trust him. Isn't that so? Trust God.

[11:20] It's unwavering. Trusting. That trusting. That God is with you. God is with you. Always with you. Know that he cares for you. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.

[11:32] It's all encompassing, isn't it? Our heart. It's more than our emotions. It's our thoughts. It's our will. It's our whole being. That we find in him our joy.

[11:43] We just have to trust him. We just have to trust him. We just have to trust him. Simply trust. How? How do we trust in the Lord? Cast all your care upon him.

[11:54] He cares for you. Build your trust through prayer. Listen to God's wisdom. Soak yourself in his words. Here is another key to finding God's will.

[12:05] Lean not unto thine own understanding. See in the heart. Now it's talking really about the mind, the thinking, the thoughts, the wisdom that we can know.

[12:17] That we can lean not unto our own understanding. Now when we lean on something, we rest upon it. We rest our weight on it. And our own understanding is our own discernment.

[12:28] It's the ability to distinguish something. Our own understanding is limited. If we lean upon our own finite understanding, rather than God's infinite understanding, when making a decision that's not wise.

[12:46] The command here is lean not. Lean not on that. Don't lean on your own understanding. Of course we know where we can turn to when we need wisdom.

[12:57] Can't we? Google. Chat GPT. No. No. No, no, no, no. Human wisdom. Human wisdom. It's not enough.

[13:09] Human wisdom can be deceptive. Believe it or not, Google sometimes tells lies. Human wisdom can be deceptive people. Amen? Isn't that so?

[13:20] Rather let us lean on God's unlimited understanding. Tells us that of his understanding. Great is our Lord. Psalm 147.5. Great is our Lord and of great power.

[13:33] His understanding is infinite. Wow. That's saying something, isn't it? God has promised to guide you. And he will. We can find God's wisdom. We can.

[13:44] We can. We can find God's wisdom through prayer and through the study of his word. Lean not, it says. Lean not, it says. Unto thine own understanding.

[13:55] Understanding. Now it's interesting if you want some homework to maybe check your concordance and look up that word understanding through the concordance. The Bible speaks much of the understanding.

[14:07] It's a repeated theme in fact in Psalm 119 which is a psalm that's really full of the word of God. You squeeze Psalm 119 and the word of God just falls out of it.

[14:18] It's just saturated with the word of God. In Psalm 119 it reads, verse 99, I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation.

[14:32] The understanding, the source of understanding is God's testimonies. It's his words. The word of God. The Bible speaks much about the understanding. It tells in Ephesians 4.18 of some their understanding is darkened.

[14:48] And then in Ephesians 1.18 it tells of some whose understanding is enlightened. So we can have an understanding that is darkened or we can have an understanding that's enlightened.

[15:00] Darkness and light. What a contrast. The book of Proverbs has much to say about understanding and that's understanding is contrasted with foolishness. So they're opposites.

[15:12] We see for example Proverbs 28 verse 5. Evil men understand not judgment. They don't understand. But they that seek the Lord understand all things.

[15:24] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy. The knowledge of the holy is understanding. So lean not unto thine own understanding.

[15:38] Is God in our thinking? Are we God conscious? How is our God consciousness? Do we sometimes turn it on and off and we kind of live without thought of God for hours of the day?

[15:50] Or is actually our thinking governed by God? Is it such that we have thoughts that he would be pleased with? Are we conscious of God when we think?

[16:03] Think on these things. On things that would please him. And when you think about lean not unto thine own understanding. Humility is letting go of that, isn't it?

[16:15] Of our own understanding in the sense of our own self-centered thoughts. Our own agendas. Our own understanding is going to fall short. Rather let's seek God's divine purposes.

[16:28] May we find his wisdom, his leading, his understanding searching out his will. The Bible tells how we should have a maturity in our understanding too.

[16:39] We shouldn't just stay static. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 20 it says, Brethren, be not children in understanding, but in understanding be men. It's saying that don't be immature in your thinking, in your thought processes.

[16:53] Don't be kind of childish and immature in that sense. But rather to have a maturity of understanding. We should be men. That we should be grown. We should be adults.

[17:04] That we should be grown up in our thinking. Our understanding should be mature thinking. That we can come to know God. We can truly know him.

[17:15] And we can have sanctified thinking. Such that our thoughts are sanctified. Our thoughts can be holy, godly. And our mind can be renewed. And that's an ongoing renewing of our mind.

[17:27] And faith impacts our thoughts. Our own understanding where God is not in our thoughts is limited. But God's wisdom is infinite, infinite.

[17:38] And we can seek counsel, brothers and sisters. We can seek God's wisdom from his word. We can rely on his truth. Our own understanding can be prideful. We can make our own mind up.

[17:51] Without thought of prayerfulness. Or without thought of, will that please my God? Will it bring him glory? Our thoughts can be prideful, fleshly, carnal, faulty.

[18:02] Human reasoning can hinder faith. So we need God's guidance for life. And in making our choices, we can know that. And there's peace there found in knowing him.

[18:14] And we can find the answers that we need as we trust him. As we come to grips with his truth. And in Isaiah 1.18 it reads, So the call there is really to reason with God.

[18:40] Now you might say, Preacher, I'm hearing what you're saying, but I'm not a believer today. What's stopping you? Trusting God. What's stopping you? The Lord calls me to reason with him.

[18:52] If you have yet to trust the Lord, then come to your senses. This is reasonable faith. It's a reasonable thing. This faith that we're speaking about, it makes sense.

[19:03] And your Creator beckons you to come. To come to know him. To make peace with God. And accept his terms of surrender. Stop striving and find peace with God today by faith.

[19:15] And as you do so, that faith grows. That's just the beginning when you're saved. Trust in the Lord. Yes, you're saved. You're assured of salvation.

[19:27] Then it's a whole new walk. You can surely trust in the Lord. And you can know that renewing of your mind. That ongoing. That as we're censored to his leading.

[19:38] And he'll lead you day by day. Moment by moment. When you come to the fork in the road, as it were. With decisions you have to make. You'll know that God's closing a door.

[19:50] God's opening a door. You'll take those God-given opportunities that he sends your way. You'll follow his leading. And of course, we all need to grapple with, is this God's will?

[20:01] Is it not God's will? With various practical decisions of life. But hopefully, I have that peace that he gives. You'll have his guidance as you submit to him. And so we see the faith.

[20:13] Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Faith in your heart. We see understanding. Not trusting your own understanding. Not leaning on your own understanding.

[20:24] Your brain's only got so much understanding here. But you can trust in his wisdom. You can have that understanding that he gives. So your sanctified mind.

[20:35] And then we see the third thing is our walk. We see the walk here. Our faith walk with God. It tells us, In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

[20:49] You are on a journey. And your journey is your journey. It's yours to walk that path of life that he gives to you. For some, they walk in their own ways, don't they?

[21:02] It tells us, There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. It's really important to know that you're on the right track. And there's really only two ways to live.

[21:14] As the word of God tells us, it tells in Psalm 1, For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. The Bible talks much about this word ways or way.

[21:26] The book of Haggai says, Consider your ways. We read about numbers of things, just some terms that the Bible uses. It talks about the way of folly.

[21:38] The way of a fool. Ways of darkness. The way of the wicked. The way to hell. But we also read of the way of life. The good way. The way of righteousness.

[21:49] The way of truth. So you've got two different ways here. See? If you were to consider like a fork in the road. And consider your ways. We can find God's way to live.

[22:01] We can find God's way. He shall direct thy paths. We can find God's way to live. It is possible. And it matters what way we are going.

[22:12] The Bible talks of the way of the wicked. And of the path of life. We can ask God to show us the right way. And there's many scriptures along that line.

[22:23] For example, these ones here. How we can commit thy way unto the Lord. Psalm 86, 11. Teach me thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth.

[22:35] Unite my heart to fear thy name. Teach me thy way. Next one. Show me thy ways, O Lord. Teach me thy path. Psalm 25, verse 4. And then the third one there is Psalm 37, verse 5.

[22:49] Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him. And he shall bring it to pass. So there's lots of encouraging verses here. It talks about finding God's way.

[23:00] Asking God to show you his way. To teach you his way. And then committing your way. Prayerfully commit thy way unto the Lord. We know the Bible tells us that the Christian life is called a walk.

[23:12] And every step that we take, we can know that God is with us. Our Lord knows the road ahead for you. Who knows what tomorrow will bring next week, next month.

[23:25] Our Lord knows already the way. He knows the way ahead. He knows the road ahead. He knows all the bumps and potholes. And how to navigate it. And he is your road map. Your navigator.

[23:36] In all thy ways. In all thy ways. Acknowledge him. The best way to walk is to know that God is steering your course.

[23:47] To know that he's holding the rudder of your ship. He shall direct thy paths. He's the director. May we be sensitive to his leading.

[23:59] In all thy ways acknowledge him. Do we acknowledge him? Do we acknowledge him? Do we fear God? Or do we trifle with God? Do we acknowledge God? Or do we trifle with the things of God?

[24:11] Do we fear God? In godly reverence to live that way. Acknowledge him, it says, in all thy ways. Acknowledge him. O taste and see that the Lord is good.

[24:22] Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Amen. How can we acknowledge him? Trust him? Praise him? Glorify him? Do we acknowledge him?

[24:34] In all our ways. You know, sometimes we can switch off. You know, maybe when we're at work. Or doing some busy task. Do we not always think, what would God have me to do?

[24:45] How would God want me to be? In my relationship with colleagues at work. In my everyday living. Do we acknowledge God? It says, in all thy ways.

[24:56] That's everything, isn't it? Sometimes we put God in a compartment and say, that's the God compartment. That's the God compartment of my life. But he wants all of our life. He wants us to acknowledge him in all of our ways.

[25:10] There's blessing there in doing his will. In all thy ways, acknowledge him. Every step of the journey. See, another passage about the walk is Psalm 119.

[25:24] 105, that familiar one. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. So not just in the present, but the future. His word is there for you in the present tense.

[25:36] And his word is for you in the pathway ahead. Taste and see the Lord is good. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. We're told to acknowledge him. Friends, if we could just get that thought.

[25:49] How can I be more aware of God's presence in my life? In the day to day. In the day by day. When it's Monday morning. How can I have that sense? I'm going to acknowledge God in my day.

[26:00] I'm going to acknowledge him in every step that I take. In all your ways. In every decision of life. To acknowledge God as the source of your blessings. To acknowledge him. To lean on his strength and his guidance.

[26:12] To hang on to him when trials come. Is he God of our life? Do we look to God for direction? He shall direct thy paths, it says. Do we think about what's God's direction?

[26:25] Or do we just make our own mind up without thinking? To acknowledge him. Does God feature when we're worrying about something? Sometimes I suppose there's that saying, Why worry when you can pray?

[26:38] There's that sense where sometimes we neglect to have that God consciousness, don't we? When we're making choices. Even in the everyday. Do we stop to think God is with me?

[26:50] And I can even utter just a momentary prayer. Or just have a thought of God. Just to get some glimpse of what he's wanting me to do. When I'm making difficult choices.

[27:01] Even in the everyday of life. Do we think what God would want? What would God want? As our first thought. As our first consideration. Rather than kind of tacking it on at the end.

[27:12] When we're deciding how to use our time. Do we think, well what would glorify God with the use of my time? He is the God of our whole life. He wants to be.

[27:23] To seek to know God's mind. To listen to what he says. And how does he reveal his mind? Through his word. The principles of it. He reveals his mind as we pray.

[27:35] By his spirit. The Christian life affects every part. In all thy ways. Every part of your life. If we just let him. Have our whole heart.

[27:46] All thy heart. All thy ways. It's whole. Isn't it? He wants the whole of you. Not a part. So trust in the Lord today. Let's say these words together again.

[27:57] Shall we? Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him. And he shall direct thy paths.

[28:10] It's a good thing to hide that in your heart. The word of God. To hide those truths in your heart. To contemplate. To mull them over. To mull them over. To in all thy ways acknowledge him.

[28:22] These days ahead. While he gives you life still to live. Ask for his blessing. Make it deliberate. He knows the best path for you. The right path. And friends.

[28:33] The right path may not be the easiest path. Amen. You know we see the martyrs of old. Would have been easy for them to recant. And to cave in. To falter.

[28:44] But no. They went to their deaths. We read the Fox's book of martyrs. It's a graphic. Gripping read. To see what the men and women of God went. They didn't choose the easiest path.

[28:55] They chose the right path. They chose to stand for Christ. And sometimes the path ahead for you. Might be filled with many trials and challenges. They could be affliction. And testing.

[29:06] This all can be part of God's leading. God's teaching us. To trust him. To trust him more. To trust him with all of our heart. It's all part of his plan. He will direct thy paths it tells us.

[29:19] He will direct our paths. We need his direction surely don't we? We need his direction. Our world needs it. And so acknowledge him. Thank him. For his provision.

[29:30] Learn to trust him more. To grow your faith. Align your desires with God's purposes. He will show you the way. He will direct your paths. He'll show you the path. He'll put the signpost there.

[29:42] He'll say go this way. Don't go this way. As you trust him he'll give you that indication. He'll give you that direction. He will show us the way. He shall direct thy paths.

[29:54] He'll show us the way forward. He'll lead us. He'll lead us. That our life bring him honour. He shall direct thy paths. So that's personal isn't it? When you look at it like as the King James makes it clear.

[30:07] It's first person. It's thy. Thy paths. You've got your path. They've got their path. It's thy path. It's personal here. He'll tell you the personal singular road that your road.

[30:20] He shall direct thy paths. And he'll tell you the road that you personally are to travel. That will make up your life. He'll tell you what will make up your work.

[30:31] Your friendships. Your marriage. Your education. Your training. Your hobbies. Your livelihood. Your pleasure. Your entertainment. Thy paths. Thy paths.

[30:42] We can expect that he shall direct thy paths. You can personally expect direction from God for your life. For every path of your life.

[30:53] And so we have need of patience to prayerfully seek that. Don't hold anything back. Know that your God is completely, completely trustworthy. Trust in the Lord wholeheartedly.

[31:04] Wholeheartedly. These words are written for us to contemplate and to obey. To obey. To obey. How can we put it more simply than the very words in front of our faces here today?

[31:18] That we can trust his plan. You can trust God's plan for your life. And find it. God's will. And do it. Trust in the Lord. Won't you? Won't you trust him?

[31:30] Take these verses. Hide them on your heart. Write them on your fridge. Stick them on a sticky note in your car. Trust in the Lord. Amen. With all thine heart.

[31:42] All thine heart. Hallelujah. Lean not unto thine own understanding. You'll get misled sometimes. In all thy ways acknowledge him. And he. He shall direct thy paths. Will you trust him today?

[31:54] Will you trust in the Lord? Pray that you might trust him for your salvation if you've yet to trust him. Trust him for your salvation. And then trust him for every day beyond. For every day in that walk.

[32:06] Trust him that your mind would be renewed. That you'll have the understanding that's not leaning on your own understanding. You'll lean on his understanding. You'll draw understanding and wisdom from him.

[32:17] And then you'll walk in every path. In all thy ways. He shall direct thy paths. He shall direct thy paths. Let us pray. Dear Lord, we thank you that we can trust you.

[32:30] That no matter others that we might trust that have failed us, Lord, and even our own selves, that we can trust you. Surely. Trust you. We pray each one might have that heart trust.

[32:43] They'll trust in you with all their heart. To trust you. Truly. Trust you. Lord, that we can know your saving. Lord, we pray that you'd help us to have an understanding that is a godly one.

[32:55] It's a word directed understanding of what to do. And the guidance and direction of our life. And Lord, help us that the pathways will tread.

[33:07] We'll be walking with you. We'll be walking with our Saviour. Lord, we'll have that godly walk. And you'll help us to take the right turns where we face decisions that you shall direct our paths as we acknowledge you.

[33:23] Lord, help us to acknowledge you, to praise you, to truly honour you, to have a heart set aside to love you more. A heart after your heart.

[33:34] Lord, work in our hearts, we pray. That they'll be sensitive hearts to your Holy Spirit. And do that blessed holy work in each one, we pray. And direct each one's paths.

[33:46] Everyone personally, that we might have that encouragement today. That you shall direct our paths. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.

[33:57] Amen. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Thank you.